Raving Rabbids Party Collection Review

Raving Rabbids History

Raving Rabbids started out as Rayman Raving Rabbids, a Rayman spin off featuring the title character imprisoned by a wild group of Rabbids and must complete trials and puzzles to set himself free. The game consists mainly of mini games with themes of sports, challenge, and brain teasers. The second game includes even more mini games and an option to customize your characters as you see fit. The third game titled TV Party, initializes the Wii Balance Board for its new mini games. The Raving Rabbids Party Collection features all three games for a discounted price of $20.

Story (4 out of 5)

All three games in the collection have a simple plot line of Rayman either imprisoned or escaping the Rabbids, silly looking rabbit creatures. The first game starts off with Rayman being kidnapped while at a picnic and Rabbids have him endure many types of tests that the player must complete in order for him to be set free. The next game features Rayman entering a mall trying to attack the angry Rabbids that have captured him in the previous game. In TV Party, he is running away from the Rabbids and discovers that a bolt of lightning has transferred the Rabbids into a TV set, which is the premise for the mini games.

Each game has a plot that kids will find amusing and action packed. For older audiences it may seem a bit too silly, but that is exactly what the game's theme is, a mindless fun adventure that spans through all different types of challenges.

Game Play (5 out of 5)

Each mini game has a theme that might be easy or extremely frustrating. The different types of games include flying, shooting, puzzles, racing, and reflex to test your mind. There are also certain games like the xtreme sports, where you race down a hill on a yak, which adds to the game's abundance of humor. In the TV Party game, the use of the Balance Board comes in handy for the dancing games, which allows you to use the board to its fullest. All three Rabbids games have a one player story mode as well which follows Rayman and his attack against the Rabbids through many tests, most of which are the mini games that are playable on multiplayer mode.

Controls (5 out of 5)

The controls in this game are easy and fluid; perfect for younger individuals to get the hang of. Some parts of the game do not run as smoothly, such as the flying mini games and the shooter types, which sometimes have a drop in frame rate. Since the Wii consists of fewer buttons than other video game consoles, the simplicity of pressing only three buttons to attack, jump, and run in the direction you want makes it less of a hassle, especially for a party genre game. The Raving Rabbids series as a whole is streamline and anyone of all ages can get adjusted to the control schemes.

Multiplayer (5 out of 5)

Much like the Mario Party series of games that the Wii also has, the Raving Rabbid Collection provides all sorts of multiplayer entertainment such as picking off other players from stand stills and racing them in airplane flying modes. One of the most draining is the mine cart game featured in the first Raving Rabbid game. In this mini game, one player must control the mine cart as the other one pumps it to make it run, without team work and a certain pattern this can go all down the drain. The sports games such as baseball and soccer bring about some challenge when competing with friends and family. Since there are so many mini games to choose from, this makes the game worthwhile for any family who has a special game night.

Graphics (4 out of 5)

The graphics compared to other Wii video games are not as lush or smoothed out, but it holds it own quite well, especially for being a game that focuses on entertainment rather than graphical quality. The Rabbids are oddly cute and the worlds show the brilliance of a cartoon that has be changed into CGI. There are no dull mixtures of brown and beige hues like previous Rayman platformers that have appeared on the Playstation 2. The developer has greatly taking in account of using light greens, shocking reds, and pastels to create a much smoother palette.

Sound (3 out of 5)

With most party and kids games, the party collection has some tunes and sound effects that might get on a few people's nerves after a couple hours. The music is zany and sounds like an off the wall circus complete with blaring horns and sound effects that give the impression of an old fashioned cartoon. The Rabbids themselves have an interesting way of speech which adds to the unique offset of the game and the sound effects of chimes, hammers, and a cannonball every now and then. The music and sound effects are not for everyone, but they definitely will appease to children.

Overall (4 out of 5)

Raving Rabbids has gained quite a fanbase every since it was first introduced in 2007. With this Raving Rabbids Party Collection which includes three whole games for a discounted price, its quite the steal. If you love fun loving games with an edge, or enjoy playing and competing with family and friends, give the Raving Rabbids a go.